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"I promised I'd never cheat the game & that I'd
leave it in a better place than I came into it. The competitor
in me always wants 1 more, but it's time. My HEART & body knew,
but I needed to give my mind time to accept it," Parker wrote on
Instagram.
The first overall pick in the 2008 draft was the first to win
Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same year when she averaged
18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in her opening season with
the Los Angeles Sparks.
She led the Sparks to the playoffs 11 times, winning the
championship in 2016, before a short stint with the Chicago Sky
to win the title in 2021.
"From teens with hoop dreams to legends!" eight-time NBA
All-Star Dwight Howard wrote on X. "Congrats on a legendary
career."
"Congratulations on a brilliant career, Candace," tennis great
Billie Jean King wrote. "Looking forward to following the next
steps in your journey."
The future Hall of Famer Parker won Olympic gold with the United
States twice and re-signed with the Aces in February but said
that her foot was not "cooperating" in the off-season.
"It's no fun knowing what you could do, if only," said Parker.
"I’m grateful that for 16 years I PLAYED A GAME for a living &
DESPITE all the injuries, I hooped."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)
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